
Author . 



Title 



Imprint. 



10 — (737?-! OOO 




I ^ 



ACHIEVEMENTS OT THE WEST ERNJTAVAL^^L OyiLLA. 

REMARKS 

OK / 

HON. JAMES W. GRIMES, 

OF IOWA. 



DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 18, 1862. 



^:^ The Senate having under consideration, as in Committee of the Whole, the joint reso- 

*^ lution (S. No. 04) expreerfve of the thanks of Congress to Captain A. H. Foote, of the 
Uaittd SUtes Navy, and to the officers and men under his command in the westera 
flotilla, Mr. GRIMES said : 

Mr. President : I conceive it U) be my duty, and it ccrtaiuly is a great plea- 
sure 10 me, to call the special attention of the Senau, to the ach.evemeats of the 
newly-created naval flotilla on our western waters, and to the gallant part borne 
♦ b,. L officers and men against armed rebefs iu Kentucky and Tennessee 

Surely no onrf could more properly be proud of the deeds of our Army m that 
quarter than a Senator from Iowa.' Yet, I know that wha ever adds to the 
^lorv of our Navy in the recent inflicts in the West, adds also to the glory of 
the \rmv and that the two branches of the service have been and are so con- 
joine'd that no rivalry ought to exist between them, except a virtuous emulaUon 
in the performance of patriotic duty. No examples can be foutjd m the history 
of anv country of more i.nporlant results, attained in an equal time, in an un- 
tried "tield of naval enieipri.se, than those we have lately witnessed on the Ohio, 
Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland rivers; and 1 leel assured that the suc- 
cesses wl^^h have thus far been achieved, will be surpassed by the same forces 
whenever they can find an enemy with whom to cope between Cairo and New 

^'orthe 16th day of May last, Commander John Rodgers was ordered by the 
Secretary of the Navy to proceed to Cincinnati, and to purchase or commence 
the construction of several guuboats for service on the western rivers. Under 
his auspices the three boats, Taylor, Lexington, and Conestoga, were purchased 
and fitted up for war purposes. They were put in commission and reached 
Cairo, af.er Lme delay arising from the low stage of water m the Ohio river, on 
the 12tb of August, Commander Rodgers taking charge of the Taylor, and 
assiening Commander Slembel to the Lexington, and Lieutcuant Phelps to the 
Conestola. The Taylor carried seven guns, of large calibre, the Lexington ^x 
and the Conestoga four. Here was the beginning of the western flotilla. We 
all remember tht unfavorable criticisms indulged in when these three stern- 
wheel steamers, with oak casings, arrived at that mihiary post. Some said 
they would be shaken to pieces by the recoil of their own guns ; others that 
they would be speedily sunk by the shore guns of the rebels ; while not a few 
were alarmed by visions of HuIUds'b ram buttiug them to pieces with impunity. 
From the day they reached their destination to the present no rebel cralt has 
shown itself ten miles above Columbus, au<l no rebel force, of a«^ <»''^cr.pUon, 
has harbored -on the two rivers in a proximity which could be deemed threat- 



1^^ 



.G^«^ 



eniog to their navigatioD, or to the two cities of St. Louis and Cairo. A few 
experimental trips dispelleH all doubts of their efficiency; and w lien tlie people 
became assured that they would do the work tliey were intended for, all fears 
of a rebel incursion into any of the nuithwestero States, other than Missouri, 
were also dispelled. A band of Jetferson Thompsou's robb^-rs did, indeed, make 
a demonstration of crossing; the Mississipjii river, in Aueusl last, from the town 
of Commerce, Missouri ; but; at the first intimation that the gunboats were 
coming, they fli d, with what booty they could lay their hands on, pillaged im- 
panially from friends and f les on the MisS'uiii shore. The boon of security to 
the people of ihe north westein Stutes is a debl due, in no small degree, to those 
■wooden gunboats; for, however numerous and brave our armies, it would have 
been impossible, with them alone, to have guarded all poii.ts ou our river line. 
Thus, our people were not only protected frura danger of invasion, but they 
were enabled to give all their time and energies to preparations for those offen- 
sive movements which have reclaimed so much irapoitant teiiitoiy frtm ihe 
domination of the enemy. 

On the 23d of September, Commander Rodgers was detached from service 
in the West, and Captain A. H. Foute was ordered to take command as flag 
oflBcer. Since that time the following boats, with ironclad bows, have been 
built or prepared for service, and added to the flotilla under his command: 
St. Louis, thirteen guns. Lieutenant Paulding; Caroiidelet, thiiteen guns. Com- 
mander Walke; Pitislmig, thirteen guns, Lieutenant Thompson; Louisville, 
thirteen guns, Commander Dove; Cincinnati, thirteen guns. Commander Stem- 
bel ; Essex, five guns. Commander Porter; Mound City, tliiiteen guns. 

The first engagement of the gunboats with the enemy took place on the 9lh 
of September, at Lucas's Bend, in the Mississippi river, a sboit distance above, 
and in full view of, the rebel stronghold at Colurabus. In that engagement the 
Lexington, Commander Stembel, and the Oonestoga, Lieutenant Phelps, si- 
lenced two shore batteries, dispersed a large body of rebel cavalry, and so dis- 
abled the rebel gunboat Yankee that she has not been heard of since. 

On the 29th of October, the Conestoga, Lieutenant Phelps, pioceeded, with 
three companies of Illinois volunteers, sixty-two miles up the Tennessee river 
to Eddy ville, Kentucky, where they jointly attacked and routed a rebel encamp- 
ment, biinging away their horses, arms, carap equipage, and negro slaves. 

There could hardly have been an occasion where the presence of an efficient 
naval support was more necessary than at the battle of Belmont, fought on the 
7th day of November last ; and there has been no conflict during the war where 
this support, when finally called into requisition, was more effectively and op- 
portunely rendered. Nothing but the well directed fire of grape and canister 
irotn ih; guns of the Taylcr and Lexington saved our land forces from being 
utterly cut to pieces while retiring on board their transports. Every effort of 
the enemy to bring his ari.illery to bear on our columns was defeated by the 
storm of iron which assailed him from the boats. His pieces were dismounted 
and his horses and men swept down as fast as they were placed in position. 

A great deal has been said about the origin of the proposition to take pos- 
session of the Tennessee river. The credit of originating the idea of a cam- 
paign in that diiection has been claimed fiist for one and then for another 
military commander. I desire that impartial justice may be done to every 
man; aud acting upon the intention to do justice, I must be permitted to say^ 
that 80 far as I can learn, the project of turning the enemy's flanks by pene- 
trating the Tennessee ana Ciimberland rivers originated with Commodore Foote. 
The great rise of water in those rivers was providential, and with the quick eye 
of military genius he saw at once the advantage that it might secure to our 
arms. Accordingly he sent to General Ualleck, at St. Louis, the following dis- 
patch : 



-i 



^ 



Cairo, Jammry, 2S, 1S62. 
General Grant and myself arc of opinion that Fort TTenry and the Tennessop river can be carried with 
four ir<»n-clad j^iinhoAtft and troops, and bo ))t;rniuneutly occupied. Hav« we your autliority to move for 
that purpose when readv? 

A. H. FOOTE. 

To this dispatch no reply was vouclipaferl, but an order was subsequently sent 
to General Grant to proceed up the T» Tinessee river with his troops un<ler con- 
voy of the armed flotilla, and attack i^'ort Henry^ directing General Grant to 
show to Commodore Foote his orders to this effect. Commodore Foote was at 
once ready for the expedition, and ad ised the Department to that eflfect, in the 
following dispatch : 

TTsirKD Statks GnuaoAT Cose8toojl, 

Padlcah, February 8, 1863. 

Pia; I have thelionor to^form you that I left Cairo yesterday with this vessel, having ordered the ar- 
mored gunbonls E!»sex. Curondelct, Cincinnati, and St. Louia to precede mo to Puducah, and arrived 
here iiisl evening. 

To-day I purpi)8e ascondine; tho Tennessee river with the four new armored boats and the old gunboats 
Tayltir, C<ineiMopa, ard Lexington, in convey of tlm troops under General Grant, for the purpose of con- 
jointly atlacklntr and cjcinipying Tort Henry and the ruilroad bridge conecling Bowllngflreon with Colum- 
bus. The iruuitpnrls have not yet arrived, alihoufili oxpectd last ntjrht from Cairo, which causes deten- 
tion, while ill the mean time, unfortunately, ine river is falling. I am rejidy with the seven ffunbouts 
to act offensively wUenover the Army is In condition to advance, and have every oontldence, under God, 
that we shaU be abie to eilence the guns at Fort Henry and its surroundings, notwithstanding I have been 
obliged, for warn of men. tn take from the five boats remaining at Cairo all (he men except a sufflcienl 
number to man one gunboat ifnr ilie protection of that tmt'urtanl post. 

1 have kfl commander Kiily. as senior officer, in elmrge of the guns and mortar boats at Cairo, ordering 
him. with ihe assistance of Fleet Captain Pennock, to use every elTort in obtainine men and forwarding 
the early equipment of the mortar boats. It Is peculiarly unfortunate that we have not been able to ob- 
tain men fur the flotilla, asihey only are warning to cMiable me to liave, at this moment, eleven full-man- 
ned, insteat] of seven partially-manned gunboats ready for efficient operations at any point. The volun- 
teers fri'in the Army to go in the gunboats exceed the number of men reiiuired; but the derangement of 
companies and regiments in permitting them to leave, is the reason assigned for not more than flfly of 
the number having been thus far tranelerred lo die fi itilla. 

I enclose a copy of my orders to the commanders of the gunboats, in anticipation of the attack on Fort 
Henry; also a copy of orders to Lieutenant Commanding Plielps, who will liave more especial charge 
the old gunboats, and operate in a less exposed position than the armored tMiats. , 

I have the bonor to be, very reapectfuMv, your obedient servant. 

A. H. FOOTE. Flag OMcer, 
Commatikting Naval Forces on the Western WaUra. 

Hon. Gideon "WRLLra, 

i^ecretary of the Xavy^ Wa»hinffton, D. C. 

P. 8.— Several transports with troops havejuai arrived. A. H. F. 

I proceed up the Tennessee early la the morning, and will there make the Ctneinnati my flag ship. •, 

A.H.F. 

On the preceding day he had issued the following order to Lieutenant 
Phelps : 

[Special Orders, No. 8.] 

CnITKD STATB8 GUNBOAT TaTLOR, 

Padcoau, Fehrxuiry^ 2, 1863. 

Liputflnant Commanding Phelps will, as soon as the fort shall have surrendered, and upon signal from 
the fiag ship. procee<l with the Conestoga, Taylor, and L'-xington, up the river to where the railroad 
bridge crosses, and if the army shall not already have got possession, he will destroy so much of the 
track aa will entirely prevent its use by the rebel* 

He wii; then proceed as far up the river as the stage of the water will admit, and capture the enemy'a 
gunboats and oiher ve&sels which might prove available to the enemy. 

A. H. FOOTE, Flag Officer, 
CommnHiding Naval Forces on the Western Waters* 

The fleet, consistinp; of the iron-clad boats Essex, Carondelet, Cincinnati, and 
St. Louis, aud the three wooden boats Taylor, Lexington, and Conestoga pro- 
ceeded to Fort Henry and redutred it in one hour aod twenty minutes, Com- 
inodore Foote being, as is his wont, in the fore front of the battle. It appears 
from the order to Lieutenant Phelps, (which that gallant officer promptly execu- 
tt'd,) tha: Cora raodore Foote knew before leaviug Paducah that he should take 
Fort Ht^nry, no matter what might be the force or the resistance he should meet 
there. He was thoroughly inspired with the great idea of victory. The con- 
tiiigency of failure did not enter into his calculations. Hti, therefore, addressed 
himself to plans for reapiog the fruits of victory, rather than to plans for re- 
pairing the consequences of defeat. It will be observed from the foregoing let- 
ter to the Secretary of the Navy, written before the battle of Fort Henry, that 



the effioieucy of the flotilla was much impaired l>v the want of seameTi, or by 
a neglect in some quartir to have lliose traasferred from the roilitury service 
who had been selected for that purpose. 

After reducing Fort Heury and sweeping the Tennessee river as far up as 
Florence, Alabama, Conimodore Fcoie returued to Cairo to prepare the niortar 
boats for operations agaiuft Fori D^melson. He tt'as aware of the formidable 
character of the rebel works at Donelson, and he desired a delay of a few days 
to complete the mortar boats, by which he believed the garrison, however ex- 
tensive, could be shelled out without much loss of life on our side. General 
Halleck believed an immediate attack to be a military necessity. In this, I 
doubt not, he was right, ?nd I only refer to it to show that the crippled condi- 
tion of the fleet and the he^vy loss of life on our side ai« not to be attributed 
to rashness or bad management on the part of the flas; officer. Of the gallant 
attack on Fort DonelsoB uo one need be reminded. Subjected, as our vessels 
were, to a long-continued and hot fire from ihtee rebel batteries at four hundred 
yards' distance, they continued the fight for«ne hour and thirty minutes, and 
not until the wheel of one and the tiller ropes of another of his boats were shot 
away did the well-managed guns of the Commodore cease to scatter death and 
consternation among the foes of his country. Although wounded hiipself, and 
his gunboats crippled, yet with the glory of the gallant combat on his brow, he 
indulged in no repinings for his personal misfortunes or laudation of his suc- 
cesses; but, like a true Christian hero, he thought only of his men. In a letter 
written the morning after the battle to a friend, he said : 

" Wliile I hope ever to rely on Him wlio controls all things, and to say fVoni the heart, 'Not unto us, bnt 
unto Thee, Lord, belongs the glory,' yet I feel badly at the result of our attack on F<irt Donelson. To 
Bee the brave otScers aud'tneu who say ifaey wilt go wlierever I le^d th^ra full by my aide, makes me feel 
sad to lead them to almost certain death." 

But he obeyed what was believed to he the military necessity of the situa- 
tion. 

The Senator from Massachusetts nearest me (Mr. Wilson) has, this morning, 
kindly furnished me a letter from a trustworthy friend of his who has from the 
beginning been with the army of the West, from which I am permitted to read 
the following extracts ; 

" "When Fort Henry surrendered, the gate was opened by which the rebellion will be flnally and utterly 
crushed. In a few days Commodore Foote will open the Mississippi, provided he is not hampered, and 
also provided he is [iroperly sup[»orted by Government. He has done a great work for his country — a work 
which, I am sorry to sjty, h;is not been pi:.)perly appret iated. He hasimprovised a navy witti almost insur- 
mountable obstacles against him. I see it stated in the papers that the gunboats did but little service at 
Donelson, wiiich is a inonstrotis mistake. They silenced nearly all the enemy's guns, and had not the 
wheel :>( one boat and the tiller ropes of another been shot away, in fifteen minutes more the batteries 
would have been flanked and the entire rebel army exposed to the broadsides of the fleet. He would 
have mowed them down like grass." *•»•*»* 

" As it was, he made the work of the army in the fight of Saturday ravich easier than It otherwise would 
liave been. Several of the Mississippi otficers (prisoners) informed me that the shells of the gunboats had 
a demoralizing efl'ect upon tlieir men. The Mentphis Appeal says It dispirited them." • « • « 
" I have had a fair opportunity to observe the operations of bititi army and navy, and I can say with em- 
-phaeis that there are no more self-denying, patctotic. hard- working, faithful men than the flag ofiicer and 
his captains, Stembel, Pennock, Phel[>s, and others." * • • . * "I make these statements 
from my own sense of justice and honor, and not from any man's prooipting or request." 

The next movement of Commodore Foote, with his flotilla, was to take pos- 
session of Clarksvillc, where he arrived on the 19th day of February, and issued 
his proclamation to the inhabitants three days before the arrival of the land 
forces, though that fact for some unexplained cause, nowhere appears in the oflS- 
cial reports of the military commander of the department. ^ 

On the 21st of February, 18G2, Commodore Foote telegraphed to General 
Cullum, the chief of General Halleck's etaflF, then at, Cairo as follows: 

Paddcah, /"e^rifary SI, 1S62. 
General Ctn-LUM, Cairo: 

General Grant and myself consider this a good time to move on Nashville ; six mortar boats and two 
iron-clad steamers can precede the troops arTd shell the fbrts. We were about moving for this purpose 
when General Grant, to my astonishment, received a telegram from General Halleck, '' not to let the 
gunboats go higher than Clarksville ; " no telegram sent to mo. 



The Cumberland is in « (rood stage of water, and General Grant and ' believe tliat we can take Nart- 
ville. Please a»l< General Uallecli ilwc shall do lu We will talk per lek-griiph— Captain Phi-lps r.-pre- 
aeDting me iu the offlie, as 1 am allll on crutches. A. U. FOOTK, Flag (rficer. 

It may be that there was some great military reason why General Grant was 
directed "not to let the £ruiib</ats go higlier than Clarksville," but up to this 
time it is wholly unappreciahle by the pujlic. Had they been permitted to go, 
ae was proposed by Commodore Foole, Nashville would undoubtedly have 
capitulated some days eailier than it did, and an immense amount of rebel 
stores been captured, which were destroyed or removed before the army reached 
there, the value of wliich has been estimated at ^2.Q00,000, and he would 
probably have intercepted a part of the rebel General Johusti'u's army. 

I ought not to omit to menlion the gallant attack by a part of the western 
.flotilla, under Lieutenant Gwin, upon the enemy at Pitlsbuig on the Tennessee 
river, where fifteen hundred rebel infantry and cavalry were completely routed, 
with a loss of twenty killed and one huutlred wounded. 

The next fact of importance in the campaign at the Wesf, and indeed the 
most important of all wa.s the evacuation of Columbus. Why was this strong- 
hold, which cost so much labor and money, abandoned without firing a shot? 
It is not for me to underrate the advantages of position secured by the valor 
of our troops at Fort Uonelson ; yet I undertake to say, from the knowledge I 
have been able to obtain of the defenses at Columbus, that there was nothing 
in the ntere fact of the capture of Donelson and Nashville, and exclusive of our 
•command of the river, which need have caused the evacuation, except afier a 
long and bloody siege. From the letter of a correspondent writing on the spot, 
I obtain the information that the forts at Columbus — 

"Were so located and constrocted as to be almos'. impregnable to an na^aiilt by storm. The capture 
of one bv no niean^ involved tlie capture of the balance. A fresh assault must be made in each instance. 
At the main fort, and many of the eanii works, stockades crossed the trenches, exposln*: the assaulting 
party toa stnrm of bullets from riflemen tlringtliroujch loop holes. Kvery ravine and ditch was thortMitrhly 
proteeteil, and the various approaches itf tlie rivet cnnimanded for a longdistance in ever.^ direction. Il is 
snfBcient to say, that an unusually strong natural position was seizei^upon, and so improved by rare en- 
gineering skill, that the eijualofihe C'Olumbaaforlidcatioas,ia extent and perfection of detailed combined, 
can hardly be found in the United Stales." 

Another correspondent, describing the fortifications after the evacuation, says : 

"The forliflcations were strong— perhaps stronger than any others in the South — but they were injudi- 
ciously constructed, and could not have stood an hour's bombardmen; by the gunboats and mor'.ar fleet. 
The water battery stood out in such relief from the bluff that a well directed mortar shell would have 
buried il under a hundred tons of earth from above. There were no casemates to protect the artillery from 
the galling tire of seven gunboats ; and how long could men, unsheltered, have stood a continuous hail 
from twenty. one guns, throwing eight-inch shell?" 

It is Well understood that Commodore Foote was opposed to giving the rebels 
an opportunity to leave Columbus. He felt sure of his ability, with his gun 
and mortar boats, to shell them into a speedy surrender, but was compelled to 
give way to the counsels of military commanders. 

When we couple the strategic position acquired by our occupation of the 
Tennessee and Cumberland rivers with the^ completion of the mortar boats and 
the absolute commainl of the river given us by the armored guuhoats, there 
remains no mystery about the evacuation of Columbus. The two arms of the 
public service are equally entitled to the credit of frightening the rebels from 
ifaeir strongest position ou the Mississippi river, if not the strongest in their 
whole military jurisdiction. 

Ye«terday the intelligence reached as that the western flotilla, composed of 
ten gunboats and ten mortar boats had started for new scenes of conflict and to 
achieve, 1 doubt not, new and yet greater triumphs. The <x>untrv is assured 
that whatever can be accomplished by gallantry and nautical experience will be 
performed by Commodore Foote and the brave oBBcers and men under bis com- 
mand. We await the announcement of new victories. 

I have thought H proper, Mr. President, as a western Senator, in some degree 
charged with the examiuatioa of naval aS'airs by this body, to bear this testi- 



6 

mony to tlie worth of that bratinh of the public service in the western compaign, 
and to the noble deeds of the flag offictf in that coinmand. No one can over- 
estiraate their seivices to the country, and to the Northwest in particular; and 
iu the name of tliat great section and of the whole couutry I thauk them one 
and all, officers and men. 

But I would avail myself of this occasion to accomplish another purpose. I 
am anxious that the people of this entire country may feel that the exploits of 
the Navy wherever performed are (heir exploits, that its glory is their glory, 
anu that while they are taxing themselves to support it, they are supporting the 
Tight arm of the national defence. I desire the citizen of the most remote 
frontier to feel that he is equally protected and equally honored by the brave 
deeds of our naval officers with the citizen of the Atlantic coast. I wish the 
men of Iowa and Minnesota to know that they are as effectually defended in 
thein liberties at home and in their honor abroad, by the achievements of Du 
Pont and GoMshorbugh and Stringhain and Foote on the water, as they can 
be b}' any victories «von by our armies on the land. 

Mr. President, ours must be a great maritime nation. Heaven has ordained 
that it should be such, and we citiild not make it otherwise if we would. We 
have a coast, both on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which, with its numerous 
indentations, is many thousand miles in extent, occupied by a hardy, nautical 
population, and flanked on either side by soils and climates that furnish the 
most valuable productions of the globe, and which must be sujiplied to other 
nations. On the north we have a suci-ession of great lakes already bearing' 
upon their bosoms a registerid commercial tonnage of nearly half a million, 
and navigated by a race of daring, indu-trious, northern seamen. Unlike any 
other maritime nation, ours is traversed liy navigable rivers, thousands of miles 
in length, floating an inland commerce unequaled by that of any country in the 
world, except, possibly, that of China, and capable of navigation by armed ves- 
sels of great capacity, \\ith a country of such extent, a soil and climate fur- 
nishing such productions, and a population along our ocean, gulf, bay, lake, and 
river coasts, accustomed to navigation, who does not see that ours must, from 
the very necessities of our geographical position, and the conformation of our 
continent, become a great commercial people? Our products must be borne to 
remote nations in our own ships, navigated by our own seamen, and protected 
wherever they go by our own vessels of war. 

I know not with whom originated the phrase " the Navy is the right arm of 
the public defence;" but I know that a truer sentiment was never uttered. In 
my opinion it will always be in this country the most efBcient and far the least 
dangerous arm of the public service by which to maintain the national integ- 
rity and defend the national honor. Histoiy teaches us that every nation that 
has depended upon a navy for protection has been comparatively free by the 
side of those which placed their reljance upon armies. I need not go back 
to antiquity to prove this. I point to Holland and England in modern 
times. The former, while she continued to be the greatest naval Power on 
earth, was the freest Government on earth, and only began to be shorn of her 
liberties and of her territory when she neglected to msintain her tleets. Eng- 
land, the most lilieral of all Governments save our own, is in no small degree 
indebted for her preseiit position to the fact that she maintains onlv a small 
military force in the British islands, and relies upon her wooden walls as a means 
of attack and defence. She puts no faith in laige standing armies, and will not 
until her people shall be prepared to surrender their freedom. With her garri- 
soned possessions encircling the globe, hnr entire military establishment does not 
exceed one hundred and twenty thousand men. France, Austria, Russia, Prus.sia 
maintain large standing armies on their soil ; and in those countries the liberty 
of the people is measured by the will of the sovereiga. The freedom they en- 



joy is lhe"ratuily of emperors and kings ; the servitude they endure is enforced 
by llie presence of slaiidiua; armies. 

I do iiot believe thut anyliody but thf public enemy has h»d anything to fenr 
from ihe numerous and well appointed aimies we jjave rai-ed ; yet no one of 
US is prepared lo say ihat, witb an arinv much longer isolated fmni home scenes 
and liotne ideas, concentrated in large bodies, and laugbt the duty of im|)lii'it 
obed lence to their supeiiorf, danger to our tree iiisiitutious niigln not arise. No . 
such danger can aiise I'roin tlic existence of a navy, however large, or however 
coininandcd. Seamen are cosmopolitans. Alw'iys employeil, and generally 
afloar, they never become, as armie-t sometimes do, as dangerous to fiieuds iu 
lime of peace as to enemies in time of war. 

I might go on and show that, situated as all of our large cities are, upon 
arms of the sea or upon navigable rivers, the Navy might be ma le mote efli- 
cieut in suppressing domestic insurrections, as well as in repel ing foreign inva- 
sion, than the Auiiy. I might show, t >o, that, notwithstanding njuch that has 
been said by prof>ssed statisticians, the support of a navy is less expensive, in 
compari^on with the service it renders to a maritime nation, than that of an 
army. But I shall not detain the Senate by at'.eropting to enter upon such an 
exposition at this time. 

As I said at the outset, Mr. Presideirf, my purpose in rising to address the 
Senate at this lime was to call the attention of the c luntry to the sui-ces 
operations of the western flotilla ; but I i annot refraiu from alluding, for one mo- 
ment, before I close, to the successes of our Navy elsewhere in this war. The 
whole southeastern Atlantic coast has been swept by the fleet of the gallant 
Dupont, and is now effectually held by both an in>i'le and an outside block- 
ade. The enemy have been driven from the waters of North Carolina by Golds- 
borough, their whole navy in that quarter destroyed, and their coast towns occu- 
pied. Such progress has been made in the Gulf of Mexico, that I venture to 
predict that, in a few days at furthest, intelligence will reach us thnt the forts 
at the mouth of the Mississippi river have been captured, and that Fariagut 
•Bud Porter are now, or soon will be, in posse-sion of New Orleans. But the 
startling events that have recently occurred in Hampton Roads attract, as they 
ought, the attention of all. It would be well lor us to reflect upon what those 
events have clearly demonstrated. They are : • • 

First, that in modern naval warfaie, wooden sailing vessels are perfectly 
harmless and helpless. 

Second, that the ttrongest slone fortifications can be no obstruction to the 
entrance of iron-clad vessels-of-war into our harbors; and that one or two such 
vessels, utJoppo-ed by vessels of a similar character, can hold any commercial 
city on the continent at their mercy. 

Third, that we can now commence the creation of a proper navy, upon a 
footing of comparative equality with all the naval powers of the world. 

Mr. President, no man sympalhifes with the relatives and friends of the gal- 
lant dead who perished on the Congress and Cumberland more deeply than I 
do. Perhaps, however, their loss was necessary to tench us our true path of 
duty to the country. •Let us not suffer more valuable lives to be periled upon 
such worthless vessels; and while we deplore the K>ss of so many brave men, 
let us rejoi( e that so many more are left to the service who are willing to do 
and die for their country. Especially let us give thanks for the brilliant ex- 
ample of courage, seamanship, and pat: iotism furnished to ihe country and to 
the world by that malchlet-s otficer Lieutenant John L. Worden, and the officers 
and men under his command on board the Monitor. In that unexamjile I en- 
gagenrent of Sunday last, after a terribly suffiicaling and dangerous passage 
trom New York, without having s'e|)l, with an undrilled crew, and handling an 
untried experiment, Lieutenant Worden and his crew performed prodigies of 



t 



8, 

skill and valor that will render all on boarr] the Monitor immortal. ^Tliny will 
be immortal not for their valor alone. Who shall undertake to estimnte the 
influence that bittle will exert upon all of the maritime Powers of the earth ? 
Wlio shall undertake to tell the number of homes to wliioh the news of its suc- 
cessful result carried ([uiet on that eventful evening, which bad been for hours 
disturbed by the most distracting; feais* Is it too much to say that it rescued 
our commerce and our coramcrcial cities from ravage, and in one liour com- 
pletely levolutionized all systems of uaval architecture and naval warfare? 
Captain Eiicsson, too, may well be proud of the place his name will henceforth 
occupy in the history of nautical fcience, and we may well be proud that the 
country of our birth is the country of his adoption. 

But, Mr. PresidfDt, while I would thus honor the gallant living, I would bear 
my tribute of afl'ectionate respect for the memory of the heroic dead who fell 
in the engHijemcnt in Hampton Roads. Let the remembrance of that brave 
young officer, whose obsequies are now being perfwmed in another part of this 
city, who, when his vessel was sinking beneath his feet, replied to a summons 
to surrender, that he would never give up the flag entrusted to his keeping, and 
the next moment met death with composure, be cherished by his cuuntrynien. 
The name of Smith, already illustrious in the annals of the American Navy, 
will be added to the bright galaxy of. those who have fjeely laid down their 
live* at the call of their country. 

Mr. President, the nation has cause to be proud of the Navy ; let it be hon- 
ored and maintained. 



Printed by L. Towers <b Co., coruer of Louisiana avenue and dixth street. 



m 



013 673 655 3 



